The art of
printing
Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ...
first entered
India
India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...
through
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to th ...
. In a letter to
St. Ignatius of Loyola
Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...
, 1756, Father Gasper Caleza speaks of a ship carrying a
printing press
A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in which the ...
setting sail for
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historical ...
from
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal:
:* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
, with the purpose of helping missionary work in Abyssinia. Circumstances prevented this printing press from leaving India, and consequently, printing was initiated in the country.
The arrival of the first press
There is evidence that the use of the concept of mass duplication in India dates back to the time of the
Indus Valley civilization
The Indus Valley Civilisation (IVC), also known as the Indus Civilisation was a Bronze Age civilisation in the northwestern regions of South Asia, lasting from 3300 BCE to 1300 BCE, and in its mature form 2600 BCE to 1900 ...
. Grants of land were originally recorded by
engraving
Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or glass are engraved, or may provide an i ...
the information on copper plates and
etchings
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
on different surfaces like wood, bone, ivory and shells. However, printing arrived about a hundred years after the
Gutenberg Bible
The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42-line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the earliest major book printed using mass-produced movable metal type in Europe. It marked the start of the "Gutenberg Revolution" and the age of printed b ...
was first printed.
Many factors contributed to the necessity of the initiation of printing in the subcontinent, the primary being
evangelization
In Christianity, evangelism (or witnessing) is the act of preaching the gospel with the intention of sharing the message and teachings of Jesus Christ.
Christians who specialize in evangelism are often known as evangelists, whether they are ...
and the
Jesuits
The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
were solely responsible for this.
Francis Xavier
Francis Xavier (born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta; Latin: ''Franciscus Xaverius''; Basque: ''Frantzisko Xabierkoa''; French: ''François Xavier''; Spanish: ''Francisco Javier''; Portuguese: ''Francisco Xavier''; 7 April 15063 December ...
is known to have been teaching the ''
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts o ...
'' in
Tharangambadi
Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the K ...
(Tranquebar), Tamil Nadu around 1542. Also, when the Viceroy of Goa, on behalf of King Joao III of Portugal, opened schools for Indians, Francis Xavier pressured Portugal to make printing presses available to India,
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the Er ...
and
Japan. Meanwhile, the Emperor of Abyssinia (now Ethiopia) also requested Portugal to send a press along with missionaries. Consequently, the first batch of Jesuit missionaries, along with the printing press, left for Ethiopia on March 29, 1556, on a Spanish ship. The Patriarch designate of Abyssinia,
Joao Nunes Barreto, as well as a team of technicians accompanied the press.
The prevalent route from Portugal to Abyssinia then required ships to round the
Cape of Good Hope
The Cape of Good Hope ( af, Kaap die Goeie Hoop ) ;''Kaap'' in isolation: pt, Cabo da Boa Esperança is a rocky headland on the Atlantic coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa.
A common misconception is that the Cape of Good Hope is ...
, touch Goa and reach Abyssinia. The press thus reached Goa, but soon after, news reached Goa that the Abyssinian Emperor was not keen on receiving the missionaries. Around the same time, the
clergy
Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the t ...
in Goa felt the need for a printing press and on their request to the then
Governor-General
Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...
the press was made available to them. Thus, the press stayed in Goa. This was after Mexico had seen its first printing press, but preceded the press in
Lima
Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of t ...
. The Patriarch designate Barreto was detained in Goa and it appears he never left India, but died in Goa on December 22, 1562.
Saint Paul's College and the first works printed
Printing operations began in Goa in 1556 (with the first printing press being established at the Jesuit
Saint Paul's College in
Old Goa
Old Goa ( Konkani: ; pt, Velha Goa, translation='Old Goa') is a historical site and city situated on the southern banks of the River Mandovi, within the Tiswadi ''taluka'' (''Ilhas'') of North Goa district, in the Indian state of Goa.
The ...
), resulting in the publication of ''Conclusiones Philosophicas''. 1557 saw the posthumous printing of St. Francis Xavier’s ''Catecismo da Doutrina Christa'' five years after the death of its author. No
extant
Extant is the opposite of the word extinct. It may refer to:
* Extant hereditary titles
* Extant literature, surviving literature, such as ''Beowulf'', the oldest extant manuscript written in English
* Extant taxon, a taxon which is not extinct, ...
copy of this work is however, available.
Juan Bustamante and the early days of printing in India
The individual responsible for the initiation of printing in India was one
Joao De Bustamante (rechristened Joao Rodrigues in 1563), a
Spaniard
Spaniards, or Spanish people, are a Romance ethnic group native to Spain. Within Spain, there are a number of national and regional ethnic identities that reflect the country's complex history, including a number of different languages, both i ...
who joined the Society of Jesus in 1556. Bustamante, who was an expert printer, along with his Indian assistant set up the new press and began to operate it. Among others, four books are known to have been printed by Bustamante:
*''Conclusões e outras coisas'' (Theses and other things) in 1556.
*''Confecionarios'' in 1557.
*''
Doutrina Christa'' by St. Francis Xavier in 1557.
*''Tratado contra os erros scismaticos dos Abexins'' (A Tract against the Schismatic Errors of the Abyssinians) by Gonçalo Rodrigues in 1560.
The earliest, ''surviving'' printed book in India is the ''Compendio Spiritual Da Vide Christaa'' (Spiritual Compendium of the Christian life) of
Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira
Gaspar Jorge de Leão Pereira, or simply Gaspar de Leão Pereira or Gaspar de Leão (Lagos - Goa, 15 August 1576) was the first Archbishop of Goa.
After the diocese of Goa was elevated to an archdiocese, he was appointed Archbishop of Goa, Prim ...
, the Portuguese Archbishop of Tharangambadi(place Tamil Nadu). It was printed by gutenberg in 1561 and re-edited by Manuel de Araujo in 1600, and was embellished with ornate woodcut initials on each opening chapter. This was followed by the printing of
Garcia da Orta
Garcia de Orta (or Garcia d'Orta) (1501 – 1568) was a Sephardic Jewish physician, herbalist and naturalist of the Portuguese Renaissance, who worked primarily in the former Portuguese capital of Goa and the Bombay territory (Chaul, Bassein & ...
’s ''Colóquios dos simples e drogas he cousas medicinais da Índia'' on 10 April 1563 by Joao de Endem. In 1568, the first illustrated cover page (the illustration being done with the relief technique of woodblock) was printed in Goa for the book ''Constituciones Do Arcebispado De Goa''.
Printing in the vernacular
Another Spaniard to play a major role in the history of printing in India was Joao Gonsalves, who is credited with preparing the first printing
types
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* Ty ...
of an Indian script-
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nati ...
. However, since they were not satisfactory, new casts were made in
Quilon
Kollam (), also known by its former name Quilon , is an ancient seaport and city on the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea, which is a part of the Arabian Sea. It is north of the state capital Thiruvananthapuram. The city ...
(Kollam) by Father Joao da Faria. On 20 October 1578, these types were used to print the first book in an Indian language ''in India'' (the first Tamil book was printed in
Lisbon in 1554 in Romanized Tamil script.)-
Henrique Henriques
Henrique Henriques (also known as Anrique Anriquez) (1520–1600) was a Portuguese Jesuit priest and missionary who spent most of his life in missionary activities in South India. After his initial years in Goa he moved to Tamil Nadu where he ma ...
’s ''Doctrina Christam en Lingua Malauar Tamul – Tampiran Vanakam'', a Tamil translation of St Francis Xavier’s Doutrina Christa. This 16 page book of prayers and catechetical instructions was printed in Quilon. Though no extant copies of the first edition are available, MSS copies dating 1548-1614 are preserved in Lisbon and
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus ( legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
. It should be mentioned here that Henriques was inducted into the Society of Jesus with the express intention of sending him to India to assist Francis Xavier. After the first press, a second press was set up. Not much is known about it save that it belonged to John Quinquencio and John Endem. The third press was set up in the St. Ignatius College, Rachol. Though
Devanagari
Devanagari ( ; , , Sanskrit pronunciation: ), also called Nagari (),Kathleen Kuiper (2010), The Culture of India, New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, , page 83 is a left-to-right abugida (a type of segmental writing system), based on the a ...
types were cast in 1577, the ''
Christa Purana
Christa may refer to:
* Christa (given name), a female given name
* Janusz Christa (1934-2008), Polish comics author
* '' Swedish Fly Girls'', a 1971 film also known as ''Christa''
* 1015 Christa, an asteroid
See also
* Christ (disambiguation) ...
'' - an epic poem on the life of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
written in the literary form of the
Hindu ''
puranas
Purana (; sa, , '; literally meaning "ancient, old"Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of Literature (1995 Edition), Article on Puranas, , page 915) is a vast genre of Indian literature about a wide range of topics, particularly about legends an ...
'' - was published not in Devanagari, but in the
Roman script
The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern Italy ...
in the College of Rachol (1616 and 1649) and the College of St Paul (1654). This was primarily because of the intricate shapes of the Devanagari types. In 1626, Diogo Reberio compiled the ''Vocabulario da lingoa Canarim'' (A Vocabulary of Konkani language) a
Konkani-
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Port ...
and Portuguese-Konkani dictionary.
The 17th century saw the beginning of a large-scale book-printing in Goa, egged on massively by the need to print
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...
texts for the benefit of the newly converted Christians. This time also saw a shift from the use of coercion to that of religious education for conversions. Thus, a number of books were printed in Konkani and
Marathi
Marathi may refer to:
*Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India
*Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people
*Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece
See also
*
* ...
due to the initiative of, among others, Father Thomas Stephens (who, in 1640, produced the first Konkani Grammar- the Arte de Lingua Canarin and in 1622, published ''
Doutrina Christam
''Doutrina Christam em Lingoa Bramana Canarim'' (Christian Doctrines in the Canarese Brahmin Language), commonly known as ''Doutrina Christam'' or ''Dovtrina Christam'', was written by Fr. Thomas Stephens (1549–1619), an English Jesuit, and p ...
em lingoa Bramana Canarim, ordenada a maneira de dialogo, pera ensinar os mininos, por Thomas Estevao, Collegio de Rachol'' or Christian Doctrines in the Canarese Brahmin Language, arranged in dialogue to teach children, which was the first book in Konkani and any Indian language), Father Antonio Saldanha, Father Etienne do la Croix, Father Miguel do Almeida and Father Diogo Ribeiro (whose ''Declaraçam da Doutrina Christam'', or Exposition of Christian Doctrine in Konkani was printed in 1632). Despite the efforts of Father Stephens and the general familiarity of the Devanagari script, it was found easier to cast not Devanagari, but Roman types for Konkani. This was one of the major factors that alienated Konkani from other Indian languages, since the Roman script failed to fix a number of Konkani sounds that the Europeans faced difficulty in pronouncing. It was, however, this adoption of the Roman script for printing in the vernacular helped printing to flourish in Goa till 1684, when the official decree suppressed the vernacular languages and printing suffered a setback. Printing in Tamil stopped after 1612, and the last books printed in Latin and Portuguese before printing fairly died were published in 1674.
Ziegenbalg and the revival of printing
It was not till 1706 when
Bartholomaeus Ziegenbalg
Bartholomeus or Bartholomaeus or Barthelomaeus is a masculine Latin given name, the Latin equivalent of Bartholomew. The German cognate is Bartholomäus. Notable people with the name include:
* Bartholomeus Amadeus degli Amidei (died 1266), Ita ...
, a Danish missionary, arrived at
Tharangambadi
Tharangambadi (), formerly Tranquebar ( da, Trankebar, ), is a town in the Mayiladuthurai district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu on the Coromandel Coast. It lies north of Karaikal, near the mouth of a distributary named Uppanar of the K ...
that printing in India could flourish again. A printing press arrived around 1712-13 and the Tranquebar Press produced its first publications. On Ziegenbalg’s insistence, the first Tamil publication from the press reached the mass in 1713, followed by the New Testament in 1714.
It was as late as 1821 that printing was revived in Goa with the starting of a weekly called ''Gazeta de Goa'', later known as the ''Chronista Constitucional de Goa'' (1835) and still later, the ''Boletim de Governo do Estado da India'' (1837).
Later years
From 1940 to 1960 there were four to six printers in Goa, of which the prominent ones were JD Fernandes, Gomantak Printers and Borkar Printers. Smaller entrepreneurs also joined the fray. One of these was a teacher in a local school in Churchorem. Rohidas Bandekar quit his profession to start a press—Bandekar Offset—with a meagre investment of Rs 24,000.
References
* �
450 Years of Printing in India(6.8.1556 - 6.8.2006)”, Pratap Naik, S.J.
* �
, Bhavna Kakar
* “{{usurpe
}”, Babu K. Verghese, in ''The Hindu'', April 1, 2007.
* �
�� Noel D'Cunha, PrintWeek, ''Goanet Reader'', March 17, 2009
* �
�� in Goa Konkani Akademi
Joseph Gerson Da Cunha ''The origin of Bombay'', p. 103
* “�
Konkani Literature in Roman Script – A Brief History�� released", ''
The Navhind Times
''The Navhind Times'' is an English language newspaper in Goa. Founded in 1963 and based in Panaji, the capital of Goa, it is the largest selling newspaper, amongst the three locally published English newspapers in the state. The other two being'' ...
'', May 11, 2010
Manohararāya Saradesāya ''A History of Konkani Literature: from 1500 to 1992'', p. 17
History of printing
Colonial Goa
Printing in India
1550s in Portuguese India
1550s in India
History of Goa
Jesuit Asia missions
Jesuit publications